Morning Brief: No firm conclusions on pandemic origin, feds say

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives an update on the government's measures to help Canadians with the effects of COVID-19 pandemic from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Mar. 23, 2020. Andrew Meade/iPolitics

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Good morning, readers.

Canada is keeping a safe distance, for now, from the theory that the global COVID-19 outbreak began by accident in a virology laboratory in China — a narrative espoused in recent days by the likes of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said Monday that the government’s focus was on its citizens’ health and safety, while acknowledging that determining the true origin story of the global pandemic would be important one day. Chief public health officer Theresa Tam said she hadn’t seen any specific evidence to point to the lab as the culprit, though she acknowledged the world has more questions than answers at this point. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, as of now, no “firm conclusions” have been drawn through the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

The federal government’s export credit agency will lend up to $500 million to build the Coastal GasLink, a natural gas pipeline that sparked a national protest movement and reckoning over the Liberal administration’s commitment to Indigenous reconciliation, the Toronto Star reports. Export Development Canada says it will lend between $250 and $500 million to the company building the project, based on an agreement signed April 28.

Close to 50 Hong Kongers — many of whom took part in massive demonstrations that began last year — are seeking asylum in Canada, citing harassment and brutality at the hands of police and fear of unjust prosecution. The 46 applications for asylum claims made between Jan 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020 are all pending, unnamed sources told the Globe and Mail.

Some MPs are floating the idea of reviving the former per-vote subsidy as they await challenges with political fundraising as the country reels from the COVID-19 pandemic. Liberal MP Ken Hardie argued to The Hill Times that the old system was “a very equitable way, particularly for parties like the Greens who garner a lot of votes but don’t necessarily elect a lot of people.”

And in case you missed it yesterday, the sole COVID-19 case announced in Nunavut, from the community of Pond Inlet, has been deemed a false positive — meaning the territory’s count of confirmed cases is back at zero, per CBC News.

Farm groups are warning that producers are “very close” to euthanizing livestock as hundreds of thousands of animals are in a processing backlog thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a Monday night teleconference of the House Industry committee, Keith Currie, first vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said pork producers in Manitoba, P.E.I., Quebec, and Ontario are looking at euthanasia as they continue to lose money on livestock they can’t process and are being offered no new federal support.

The Ford government say they aren’t considering following the lead of British Columbia and issuing clinical guidance for providing prescription alternatives to street drugs amid the coronavirus pandemic — though Toronto Public Health is asking the province to consider such moves as overdoses spike.

“We encourage the province to consider additional ways to respond to this ongoing crisis such as BC’s experiences and guidance and adapt them to respond to our provincial situation, including supporting managed opioid and safer supply programs,” Toronto’s associate medical officer of health Rita Shahin said. Victoria Gibson has more.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is contributing over $850 million towards the global fight against COVID-19 — including support for the University of Saskatchewan’s work on vaccine development and Vancouver-based AbCellera’s efforts to develop effective treatments, as well as contributions for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization’s solidarity trial. Marco Vigliotti reports.

And while remediation and excavation work in front of the 100-year old Centre Block building has continued during the parliamentary shutdown, the federal department in charge of the massive job says it has also temporarily demobilized 85 other projects throughout the parliamentary precinct. Tim Naumetz has this one.

An internal Chinese report has warned that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus that could tip relations with the U.S. into confrontation, according to individuals familiar with the paper — which found that global anti-China sentiment was at its highest since the Tiananmen Square crackdown. (Reuters)

In the U.S., a request to the Senate by presidential candidate Joseph Biden Jr., regarding a search for any record of a complaint against him by former aid Tara Reade, was rejected yesterday. The secretary of the U.S. Senate responded that her office had no legal discretion to “disclose any such information.” (New York Times)

In Venezuela, opposition leader Juan Guaidó is denying having anything to do with an ex-Green Beret who is claiming responsibility for a deadly beach invasion aimed at arresting socialist leader Nicolás Maduro. The government is saying it has mobilized more than 25,000 troops to hunt for other rebel cells. (Associated Press)

And Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has picked a new head of the federal police following a Supreme Court decision to block his effort to appoint a family friend — a move that’s being seen as a tactical retreat, just one day after Bolsonaro and his supporters threatened the court in anti-democratic protests. (Reuters)

Cartoon of the Day

Theo Moudakis cartoon

FINALLY

Heads up, political history buffs! The archeological investigations taking place during the excavation outside Centre Block have turned up some remnants of Canada’s parliamentary past, Public Services and Procurement Canada told iPolitics’ Tim Naumetz. Namely, the dig has reportedly unearthed the remains of both original and modified stairways and porches from the original Centre Block — which was destroyed by fire during the First World War. Neat.